You’ve probably seen your hamster stuffing food into its cheek pouch. If you’ve wondered how much they can put in those cheeks, here’s a BBC video with a Syrian hamster stuffing its pouch full of dried nuts and fruit. But it’s not just a random nom-noming video, at about 40 seconds into the video, you can see an X-ray of the hamster stuffing that food all the way to the side of his hips

It turns out a Syrian’s cheek pouches extends all the way to the hips and that’s how they’re able to pack so much away.

Here’s another video of one pouching way too many carrots:

Dwarf hamsters can do it but obviously due to their size difference, they won’t be able to get as much in. Here’s one of a Russian dwarf hoarding some sunflower seeds:

And this is not quite related but I feel obligated to include a video of Ichigo, my Roborovski hamster cracking open a lot of sunflower seeds he stored in his pouch.

If you google for the age of the longest-lived hamster, you might come across a few web sites stating that it was 7 years, and some even quote the Guinness World Records as the source for this information.

That’s a really long time given that most hamsters live for only 2 to 3 years.

Recently, I found out that you could search the Guinness World Records online and naturally I wanted to verify if the hamster age record was true. I couldn’t find any information on it at all so I asked the Guinness World Records on their facebook page.

This was what they said:

It turns out the oldest hamster was from the UK and lived only for 4.5 years, not 7. So now you know 🙂 And I definitely won’t be getting that book.

Hamsters are cute little furry animals that lots of little kids have as pets. They sleep during the day, run on their little wheels, and have a weird little habit….eating their own poop. You may wonder why on earth would they do something so disgusting but the answer is simple. Hamsters are coprophagic, this means they consume their own poop for nutritional reasons.

Due to the way their digestive system is set up, hamsters do not get all the nutrients they need the first time the food passes through their system. So once it comes out in poop form, they eat it again to receive the nutrients their bodies did not absorb the first time.

Although it does seem odd to us humans, it is very normal for not only hamsters but also some other animals to eat their own poop (rabbits do this too!)

Hamsters do not eat all of their poop though, only the ones that can get additional nutrition from. The other type — the ones that you see all the time in your hamster’s cage — is passed out and not eaten.

This coprophagic behavior most often occurs at night and the hamster eats the poop almost immediately when it is passed out. Most owners do not even know that their hamsters do this.

I’ve only seen it once or twice in a few of my hamsters although I’m sure it happens a lot more. Have you seen your hamster eat its poop?

Not everyone knows this but hamsters are not herbivores. Perhaps because hamster mixes look like they contain mostly plant-based food, some people think that hamsters eat only plants.

However, hamsters are really omnivores and they eat both plant and animals (mostly insects). In fact, if you look at the ingredients in many commercial hamster food, you’ll find animal proteins such as chicken, shrimp, fish, or even beef in them.

In the wild, hamsters may occasionally feed on insects, worms, and other creepy crawlies. As pets, they also enjoy a mealworm or two now and then.

Here are some non-plant foods that you can find in pet stores for hamsters

1) Dried mealworm

Mealworms are very high in protein and fat. They are good as an occasional treat. My dwarf hamsters go crazy for them but the Syrians completely ignore them. You can give your hamsters live mealworms too but I prefer using the dried ones instead because they might pouch the live mealworms and get bitten (yes, mealworms bite!) inside their cheek pouches. Also, I’m squeamish about live worms. You can get these from Amazon. The packaging says it’s for birds but hamsters can have them too.

2) Dried grasshopper

Grasshoppers are very high in protein although they do not contain as much fat as mealworm. Again, the dwarf hamsters go crazy for them while the Syrians are not interested at all. When I gave this to my hamsters for the first time, the winter whites went for the grasshopper immediately when I put it in their cage. However, the Roborovskis did not recognize this as food at first and only took a bite after I left it in their cage for a while.

3) Dried shrimp

I didn’t think the hamsters would like this since shrimps are probably not in their natural environment. But they did. Again, only the dwarf hamsters liked them and the Syrian hamsters avoided them (they actually looked away when I put it in front of their faces — I think this has a strong smell that Syrians don’t like). The ones I got were marketed for hamsters, but you can use brine shrimp for fish too.

4) Beef cube

This is a really weird treat that I got from a pet store in Japan. The ingredients show a mix of various meats including chicken and beef. There’s also cheese and some other stuff in it that I couldn’t translate. All of the hamsters including the Syrians love this but it’s not a very healthy treat so I wouldn’t get this again

Besides the above food you can get from pet stores, you can also give these to your hamster:

5) Cooked plain chicken

All my hamsters seem to really like this. It’s also a good treat for growing or pregnant hamsters since it’s high in protein

6) Cooked plain salmon

Again, another favorite food. If you give your pet salmon or any other fish, make sure there is absolutely no bones in them.

Looking for information on the Chinese dwarf hamster? These animals have their origins in Mongolia and the Northern areas of China. They go by the scientific name of Cricetus Griseus and they are a popular pet but not as popular as the Russian dwarf hamsters. Chinese dwarf hamsters are not technically dwarf hamsters, but they are commonly thought as such due to having a similar appearance to the Russian dwarf hamster.

Chinese dwarf hamster basics

The Chinese dwarf hamster will live about 2-3 years which isn’t long but most hamsters have a short lifespan. They average in size about 10-12cm. These hamsters have a 3cm long tail and come in two colors: normal, and dominant spot. The normal ones have a grayish brown color to them. Down the spine of this animal, you’ll find a black stripe that’s quite prominent. The ones that are dominant spot are mainly white with patches of gray-brown. Female hamsters seem to bond well together and if you’re going to have more than one make sure you have females only or males only unless you’re trying to breed your hamsters.

Some people think that females are more aggressive than males and should not be kept together. However, this may arise from females play-fighting and squeaking more than males. Social grooming may also sometimes be confused with fighting. It is not true that only males can be kept together. Regardless of the gender, it’s important to separate your hamsters immediately if they start fighting.

Chinese dwarf hamster personality

Chinese hamsters are lively and agile and they enjoy activities such as climbing, running, and jumping. Wash your hands before you pick up your hamster and use cupped hands to do it. This should be supervised by an adult if children are picking up a hamster. Make sure other animals such as a cat or dog are away from the hamster when you are playing with your pet. When you do pick up the Chinese dwarf hamster handle it carefully as it’s quite fragile. If you handle the hamster from an early age it will become tame but just be careful when doing so.

What do Chinese dwarf hamsters eat?

Water is essential for a Chinese dwarf hamster so make sure you always have a fresh supply. It’s ideal to change the water daily as it can become dirty with pellets and debris from the cage. As with other hamsters, your Chinese hamster should be given a food mix formulated specially for hamsters. Other than that, the hamster enjoys seeds, vegetables, fruit, bread and similar foods. They will also eat other creatures such as crickets on occasion.

These hamsters also need chew toys so make sure they have toys designed for hamsters and replace them when they are worn. Some hamsters will hoard food so allow them to keep it for a few days but then replace it for sanitary concerns. Make sure you remove uneaten food like fruit or vegetables before these spoil.

Your hamster’s cage

Hamsters like to have various places to roam around in so get them a half decent sized cage and the cage should have obstacles and places for them to hide out in. If there’s a more dominant hamster in the cage this allows the less dominant hamster to hide from the dominant one. Aquarium tanks work well as these are large enough. You don’t want to use regular hamster cages with wider bars because dwarf hamsters are quite small and they may escape on you or injure themselves trying to squeeze through the bars. They don’t like direct sunlight or too much heat so keep them in shady areas of a room. Wood shavings work well for bedding but avoid cedar or pine as this can impact their respiratory system. Get a wheel as this is essential for them to get exercise.

Other hamster care information

Caring for Chinese dwarf hamsters is similar to caring for other dwarf hamsters. You can visit our dwarf hamster care page to find out more about how to take care of your Chinese dwarf hamster.